Bali

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After 6 weeks of vietnam, cambodia, thailand a beach holiday was in order.
it was time for bali, everyone knows bali - or do they.

We were fortunate to accidently book a hotel three hours from tourism and 45 minutes from the nearest ATM.
We were in Amed, where the sand is black like it should be, not covered in white sand like in Kuta and other tourist spots.
We were in the middle of nowhere and boy did we like it.

A kind man at the hotel called Wawan was a good friend thoughout the week. His english was not a good as we first thought and we later realised that he would say 'for sure' and 'its ok keep trying' to almost anything we said.
On the first day he led us to the nearest town on motorbikes, a 45 minute journey through the hills and paddy fields, my motorbike skills we getting damn good.

The nearest town was small and when we asked Wawan are they lots of shops there he said 'for sure' when we arrived there was one, however the demon bike ride made it all worth it.

That was until i was on a routine cliff ride when some idiot tourist decided to drive on the wrong side of the road and give me the option of hitting him or braking on the gravel corner and falling off.
I opted for the gravel and took on the floor rather than the car, i came out with a few cuts and a death stare to the driver before being spartan and getting right back on the bike.
The damage to the bike cost 2 pounds and the mere flesh wounds were treated by my left over 'head wound' cleaning fluids.

I was warned by a friend that the kids in Bali love westerners on motorbikes and shout 'High five' in which you just have to give one when you go past.
We found this great fun, but tippically we decided to ride out past a school at closing time, my hand was raw.

On the first night out we went to see a band, we noticed that there nowledge of music was poor but they sure were going for it.
I would estimate in amed only 50 songs are known, these same songs are played by every band and include hotel california, bob marley and house of the rising sun.

As we were traveling with three girls as you would expect they get alot of male attention, this was tripled in amed as the locals all wanted western wives.
One chap called Dili took a keen liking to our friends, whilst that was going on he invited me and adam to his grandmothers cremation.
A bit of a contrast you may say, dance with the girls and invite the boys to cremations.

We like to get involved so waited till 2am then headed to the centre on motorbikes in the dark to the ceremony.
We stood in sarongs, mine brown with threaded gold stripes, i was makin this look good.
We were the only two westerners there and the only that had ever come to a ceremony, we were happy, we were VIP.
Whislt drinking Arak, made from palm oil and eating miscillaneous savoury rice packets an Elder said it meant alot to them that we came, it meant alot to us too.

The ceremony was interesting, we were aware there was going to be a sacrifce, but we were unaware of the scale.
5 pigs were sacrificed to the gods, never in my life have i heard such a noise they were screaming for there lives - the noise did not phase anyone, even toddlers standing up close, curious.
It was 2am no one could possibly sleep, everyone was here for the ceremony.
Three large pigs where held down, each by five men we were asked to join in, but of course i could not get my sarong dirty - it was flash.

Meanwhile other men in groups had their jobs on this production line, chopping spices, cooking rice, bringing drinks, lighting fires.
The majority of men were making satay sticks from the pigs - probably at least one thousand.
Within 15 mintues the satay sticks were flavoured and on 60ft of barbecue trays and two smaller pigs were spit roasted.
Dili handed us a few of the first fresh satay sticks - they were perfect.

We left them to it and headed to bed, snorkelling the next day.

We awoke fresh, we were in Bali - and headed for the japanese wreck for a snorkel. I found the biggest cowrie shell i had ever seen hidden in a hole about 5m down - would like to have kept it but it sure looked happy down there.
The wreck was awesome, and as there isnt such a thing as heath and safety here no one minded that you swam in and around it.


Dilis grandmother had past away and so had nine other people, one big ceremony is held rather than single funerals.
It cost 100 million rupiah, they earned somewhere around 350,000 a month everyone had to chip in for this ceremony the whole village and sometimes a loan from the government.
They could never go on holiday, they could only save for the next funeral that would take place.

At midday we met dili again for the 3rd day of the ceremony.
This time the ashes of their relatives were put in a ceremonial lion and ran through the streets - the village was full.
Women were involved in todays ceremony and other westerners were there to take photos, little did they know of what went on last night.
The Ashes were taken to sea and left to float out and dissapear.

Dili took us on a fishing trip with spear guns, there were some huge fish but it was hard to stay so deep down waiting for them to swim by.
Dili found it funny that we would hold our breath and swim under water, he thought we were crazy.
On the way back we saw remains of the ceremony floating out at sea, almost all of it burnt away.
After we had coffee and rice cakes at Dili's fishing work friends house, it was more of a shack but more welcoming than you could ever see anywhere else.
Once again this was the first time they had western guests - we were privilaged.

Throughout the rest of the week we lay about the pool, went snorkelling, went for a Jam in Wawans friends studio and met Dili and his friends for Guitar and Arak after the Hotel Bar next door closed.
Arak was an interesting drink, we drank lots througout the week. they seem to drink it throughout the day - that we could not handle.

At the end of the week we climbed One thousand steps to a temple. i used an interval technique in which i ran for one mintue then walked for one minute. I got to the top alone the others walking somewhere behind and stood there bare footed like an idiot, the only westerner out of a couple of hundered people Praying.
Many had travelled from far to come to this temple, many spoke good english and i had a good conversation with some of them about football.
They loved it and i knew nothing but because i was from england it meant i supposedly knew it all.
On the walk back down i talke dot an english teacher and taught him some new words - he was from the capital three hours away, it was his second visit this year.

On our last day we were to climb the volcano / mountain one of the highest points in Bali - 3100 meters.
Dili held a party for us, a party to them invloved Dog altough it was still a bit Hush Hush round there as many didnt like it due to Dogs becoming frequent Pets.
They Sacrificed the dog at a villagers house, they didnt really know him but when asked, everyone knows everyone, you need a house and i have a house.
I watched Dog being slaughtered, not for the faint hearted.
Once again others mixed spices then made satay from the dog and it was barbecued.
We ate it all, heart everything - the actual meat was lovely.
They belive eating dog is good for strength and the dog was now happy as he has never been eaten by westerners and never been up the mountain.

The mountain was tough, we set off at 12am and started the climb at 2.30am.
As we broke throught the clouds on the climb we could see more stars than i have ever seen or shall ever see again.
As we pushed on we could see light breaking over the top as the sun rised, we arrived just in time to see the sun break above the horizon.
There were about 8 others at the top, al ahppy of what they had achieved and stunned by the view of the scenery, the clouds, mountains in the distance and of course the sun rise.
Our guide handed me and Adam an apple type thing that he said ' its not an apple' never has whatever it was tasted so good.

The trip back down was exhilarating, when we hit the steep forest track our guide started running - fast. So we joined in, as fast as we could in the pouring rain, it was so much fun, so dangerous but we didnt care.
we passed the girls near the bottom - they had not reached the top - and i stepped foot at the base about an hour and a half from the top - a speady descent a perfect end to Bali.

The day before we left we collected addresses of the local friends we had made - we will keep in touch.

The only thing i can even think of that wasnt good about this week in Bali was loosing my 3rd pair of flip flops that, as usual had just worn in.

As far as travelling is concerned this week was the nearest i could get - an experience you could never forget.

The End

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